POLST: Improving patient care in the emergency department By True McMahan, M.D. Emergency department (ED) physicians are a very diverse group of providers. Some of us are cavalier, shooting from the hip as called for by the situation at hand. Others are meticulous and obsessive planners, taking no chances and casting a wide net of differential diagnoses. But MOST, if not all of us, work in a daily melee of balancing a multitude of patients with emergency medical conditions, all the while putting out administrative fires and juggling family and visitors. Is it any wonder then that we ... October 31, 2013 General POLST, End of Life Issues 0 0 Comment Read More »
Now is the time for a new Dental Plan! Now is the time for a new Dental Plan! It’s Open Enrollment time for the San Bernardino County Medical Society sponsored Group Dental program. This plan is designed to help you, your family and your employees minimize the out-of-pocket expense of regular dental care. This program helps you maximize your out-of-pocket savings by using network dentists, but also allows you to use any dentist you like and receive lower benefits. Following are many valuable benefits that can save you money: • Annual Benefits of $2,000 per person for dental care, using network providers ... October 28, 2013 General Membership Benefits, Dental Plan 0 0 Comment Read More »
CDPH launches new public health reporting gateway The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) recently launched an online portal for public health reporting called the CDPH Health Information Exchange (HIE) Gateway. The gateway will serve as a single point of entry for data submission to many state public health programs, including the California Immunization Registries (CAIR) and the California Reportable Disease Information Exchange (CalREDIE). The goal of the gateway is to improve upon data exchange, analysis and reporting capabilities, while helping hospitals and health care professionals meet the public health reporting objectives under the Centers for Medicare ... October 28, 2013 General Public Health, Reporting Diseases, Health Information Technology 0 0 Comment Read More »
Participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day More than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs, this according to the 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The study also revealed more than 70 percent of people abusing prescription pain relievers got them through friends or relatives, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet. Proper disposal of unused prescription drugs helps prevent abuse and helps keep pharmaceuticals out of landfills and waterways. More than 280 locations throughout California will be accepting unused prescription drugs, including controlled substances, as ... October 23, 2013 General Drug Abuse, Prescription Drugs, Public Health 0 0 Comment Read More »
Are your business associate agreements up-to-date? Physician practices must review and update business associate agreements to comply with new HIPAA regulations. HIPAA requires a physician practice to enter into a written business associate agreement with any third party contractors or vendors that may create, receive, maintain or transmit protected health information on behalf of the physician practice. These agreements describe how the business associate will use and protect the protected health information it receives from the physician practice. The new HIPAA regulations, known as the HIPAA Omnibus Final Rule, implement many of the key provisions of ... October 23, 2013 General HIPAA, Medical Records, Health Information Technology 0 0 Comment Read More »
Paradise internist elected CMA President Richard Thorp, M.D., FACP, was installed as the 146th president of the California Medical Association (CMA) at the close of the association’s 2013 House of Delegates, held in Anaheim last weekend. Dr. Thorp, an internist from Paradise, California, developed an interest in health policy and advocacy while serving as president of Butte Glenn Medical Society in 1994, the year of Clinton health reform. Dr. Thorp continued a leadership role in organized medicine in 1995, serving on CMA’s Committee on Managed Care and subsequently on the Committee on Medical Services. He was ... October 14, 2013 General California Medical Association President 0 0 Comment Read More »
House of Delegates Highlights House of Delegates acts on hospital care The California Medical Association (CMA) House of Delegates has voted to take action on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) "outpatient patient observation" status, finding it to be a practice that places undue financial burden on patients, complicates the practice of medicine and often results in physicians receiving reduced payments for services provided. ​Resolution 211-13, which received strong support on the floor of the House, was submitted as an emergency resolution and asked that CMA request that CMS eliminate its "outpatient patient ... October 14, 2013 General Advocacy, California Political Action Committee, CALPAC, Electronic Health Record, Health Information Technology, MICRA, Professional Liability, EHR, House of Delegates, Insurance/Reimbursement 0 0 Comment Read More »
Provider search function operational on Covered California website In what has been one of the most fluid deadlines put forth by the state’s health benefit exchange, Covered California launched the online provider search function on Monday, October 7. The search will allow patients to determine if a particular physician is contracted with any of the participating health plans. Though aimed at patients, physicians can also use the search to determine which plans list them on their exchange provider directories. The California Medical Association (CMA) recommends physicians review their status with plans offered in their area to determine whether ... October 8, 2013 General Covered California, Health Benefit Exchange, Health Insurance Exchange, Health Care Reform 0 0 Comment Read More »
Bill that clarifies physician employment of PTs signed into law by the governor Gov. Brown has signed into law AB 1000, a bill that clarifies an ambiguity in existing law, so that physical therapists can continue to work within the legal boundaries of medical corporations as they have for decades. The bill also gives health care consumers the ability to seek treatment from a physical therapist without a physicians’ consent for a limited period of time. In 2010, the regulatory rules that allow physicians with professional corporations to hire physical therapists were reinterpreted by the physical therapy board, making it unclear as to ... October 8, 2013 General Physical Therapists, Advocacy 0 0 Comment Read More »
Gov. Brown signs Maddy bill to extend ER funding for the uninsured California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 191, a bill that extends funding for Maddy Emergency Medical Services (EMS). This fund is used to offset the costs incurred for care provided to uninsured patients in hospital emergency rooms. The California Medical Association (CMA) and the American College of Emergency Physicians cosponsored the bill. The law that authorizes the Maddy Fund was set to expire on January 1, 2014. Without this bill providers of emergency medical care throughout the state would have lost $50 million per year that is currently used to ... October 8, 2013 General Advocacy, EMS, Maddy Funds, Emergency Services 0 0 Comment Read More »
